Saturday, November 05, 2005

Dinner and a show

Every Friday night myself and Cathy treat ourselves out to supper. Because of budget reasons, we tend to alternate - one week we go to one of the nice restaurants like restaurant at the Frobisher Inn or Wizard's Bistro. The other week we tend to go one of the cheaper places such as the Storehouse or The Snack.

Last night, it was expensive restaurant night so we went to the hotel restaurant. The food is pretty good and, all things considered, pretty reasonably priced. So a nice Chicken Parmasian and a Chicken Pesto, two Caesar Salads and two pop cost about $75, not including tip. Large portions and, like I said, it's good food.

You also get a floor show of sorts.

Because it's the hotel restaurant, you obviously get a lot of people eating there who are guests at the hotel. They could be tourists, there on business, conferences, etc. And the local native arts community knows this. So while you're sitting down, there is normally a steady stream of local artists walking through the place showing you their crafts. It varies as to what they will offer. Last night we had about a dozen people come to our table, showing us everything from coats, hats, mittens, pins, small sculptures and quite large sculptures.

One guy came by with a statue of a walrus that must have weighed about 20 pounds.

Cathy bought these two bears back in February when she was here for a conference. It's no problem finding work this good coming around to the table. I believe she paid about $300 altogether for them, which is a good deal considering the quality of stone, workmanship and time put into them.

You don't have to go to dinner either, of course. You can just go up to the front desk. There are normally a few guys hanging around with sculptures. It's almost funny. It's like drug dealing, except it's in native art.

The thing that surprises me the most is that people are not bothered by the interuption. We kind of like it. You have a nice meal and people will come by and, very politely, show you their art and answer any questions you have about it. And they're never pushy. We normally compliment them on the quality of the work, but politely decline. It's reasonably priced, but we're on a budget until I get a job.

But I'm surprised there aren't some people annoyed or rude. Perhaps they are, I just haven't seen it yet. Then again, when people are showing you beautiful artwork, you must be a bit of a git to get annoyed by it.